'Special Committee' to Probe Yahoo CEO's Academic Record

Yahoo said today that it had formed a "special committee" to investigate the discrepancies on CEO Scott Thompson's resume.

Yahoo said today that it had formed a "special committee" to investigate the discrepancies on CEO Scott Thompson's resume.

The committee, put together by Yahoo's board of directors, will "conduct a thorough review of CEO Scott Thompson's academic credentials, as well as the facts and circumstances related to the review and disclosure of those credentials in connection with Thompson's appointment as CEO," Yahoo said in a statement.

The committee will be chaired by Alfred Amoroso and also includes board members John Hayes and Thomas McInerney.

The move comes several days after New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, whose company Third Point owns a 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo, accused Thompson of lying in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about having a degree in computer science.

In a filing with the SEC on April 27, Yahoo said Thompson has a Bachelor's degree in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. But, as it turns out, he actually only has an accounting degree.

Last night, All Things D published a memo that Thompson wrote to his employees in which he apologized for the distraction.

"I want you to know how deeply I regret how this issue has affected the company and all of you," Thompson wrote. "We have all been working very hard to move the company forward, and this has had the opposite effect. For that, I take full responsibility, and I want to apologize to you."

Thompson did not directly address the charges against him except to say that he respects the process of the board.

Another board member who was responsible for leading the CEO search that found Thompson, Patti Hart, has reportedly stepped down, according to a separate report from ATD.

Thompson, former president of eBay's PayPal unit, was hired earlier this year to replace Yahoo's former CEO Carol Bartz, who was unceremoniously fired several months earlier. Yahoo has faced a number of other leadership shake-ups in recent months, including the exit of co-founder Jerry Yang, chairman Roy Bostock, and three long-time board members Vyomesh Joshi, Gary Wilson, and Arthur Kern.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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